France

[FR] Investment obligations for foreign providers: first agreement between French film industry and Netflix

IRIS 2022-3:1/9

Amélie Blocman

Légipresse

On 22 February 2022, the French film organisations Blic, Bloc and ARP announced that they had signed their first agreement with a subscription-based on-demand video service, Netflix. The three-year agreement follows on from the Decree of 22 June 2021, which obliges foreign service providers to fund French and European film-making. Previously, only French providers had been under such an obligation. As part of its obligation to invest 4% of its net turnover generated in France, Netflix has agreed to contribute at least EUR 30 million per year to French-language film production. The agreement also contains a diversity clause requiring Netflix to contribute at least 17% of its funding to French-language films with a budget of EUR 4 million or less, and stipulates that it should fund at least ten films per year. In total, Netflix is expected to invest around EUR 40 million in French and European film production in 2022. In return for its investment, and pursuant to the Ordinance of 4 February 2022, Netflix will have exclusive rights to show films for seven months, starting 15 months after their release in cinemas.

On 10 February 2022, as part of France’s new media chronology and agreements reached in recent months with the Canal+ and TF1 groups, the French film industry representatives also announced the signature of a new agreement with OCS (Orange Cinéma Series). Under this agreement, the Orange group will invest at least EUR 60 million in French and European film production over three years, with firm commitments in terms of both pre-financing and independent, diverse pre-purchasing and acquisitions. As far as media chronology is concerned, OCS will enjoy the same rights as Canal+, which signed a three-year, EUR 600 million deal in early December, entitling it to show pre-purchased films six months after they are released in cinemas.